Chapter 34: Leida-La-Leda-Liliel Dragonicia

 

“Why are you all here and not out there… fighting...” Sylendri said to everyone in the room. 

She tried to be intimidating but ultimately failed. Her voice was strained, hoarse and weak. Every breath she took let out a course-whistle wheeze. Understandable as she was stabbed through the chest. Her body was wrapped with bandages, but she retained her gorgeous dress. Though, none of her fits the beautiful dress; burnt and untidy hair, small scars and wounds on her body, and an ugly expression on her face.

Her appearance did cause the atmosphere in the room to go heavy. Despite her haggard looks, she still manages to strike fear into the hearts of the general in the room. Although, visibly less than the previous time.

“Answer me…” She said as she walked towards a chair.  “Why haven’t we won this war yet!” She then threw the chair upwards, flinging it and destroying it in the process.

Discontent looks could be seen from half of the generals while the other half looked a little bit fearful. For whatever reason, the generals were still afraid of this joke of a demon lord.

"To put it simply, we've lost too many soldiers. So we are planning an evacuation. I think it's a smart move to do all things considering." Leida roughly explained the situation to Sylendri.

"Haah?! Evacuate? Who gave you the right to execute that? We strike and hold the citadel, you hear me." Sylendri then looked towards the others."I order you all, prepare the defence right now and get ready to strike!"

"..." The other generals just kept quiet.

"... Let it go Sylendri. For once in your damn life, could you behave? Could you not bring all that your mother has done to the ground with you?" Leida folded her arms and looked at Sylendri with a sympathetic look.

"Don't you dare bring my mother into this!" Sylendri yelled back in response. 

Leida was lost for words. Normally she would have just given any normal person a slap to the face. But her respect for Venti the Fifth prevents her from doing so. All she could do was let Sylendri do whatever she wanted.

Klauna however, has no such reservations for the Demon Lord. Her opinion of Sylendri could not go any lower than it already is. She got up from the seat and started to leave the room. "If you want to stay here and follow the trash, be my guest. Holding the citadel is suicide. Those of you that want to live, follow me or meet me back at my tent in the Seventh Army's encampment."

"You…dare call me trash?!" Sylendri yelled out to Klauna. 

Klauna merely ignored her and continued moving.

"Come back here! That's an order!" Sylendri yelled again.

Not surprising, Klauna who has always shown a knack for disobeying orders… disobeyed her orders.

"Sylendri, stop it," Leida put her hand on the demon lord's shoulders to calm her down. It was only replied with a slap to her hand.

"I said come back here dammit!"

Finally at her limits, Sylendri let out an attack towards Klauna who had her back facing towards her— a long claw of lighting that extended from her sharp nails.

Unlike before where Klauna just blocked the attack with her own barrier, Klauna this time opted for a redirection. In a blink of an eye, she turned around and held out her spear towards the attack, absorbing the lighting claws into the spear. Klauna then pointed the spear towards Sylendri, the discharge flying straight towards the unprepared 'Demon Lord'.

Sylendri was unable to react and was hit by the counterattack. The brunt and sheer power of the strike caused her to fly backwards, crashing into the pile of broken tables and chairs. 

Klauna clicked her tongue when she realised that she was still conscious from the attack. She then let out a scoff and walked away from the room.

The mermaid queen and her vices were the second to leave the room. If not obvious before, Saladis has zero respect for the Demon Lord. She was followed soon by the Lamias and the Minotaurs.

Leida could have guessed how the result would go if the two duke it out. There was no way someone who was chosen by the Warrior spear Indoninatus could be so weak. The fact that she blocked Sylendri's full-powered attack back during the last meeting without even so much as a blink already proved that she was above her when it comes to defence. The rumours of Klauna's true strength at the battle of fate only compliment her prowess in combat even further.

Perhaps Sylendri could have been a match for Klauna in a fair fight. But not when Sylendri is injured like that. She never stood a chance.

There was also the fact that Klauna rarely, if ever, fights fair.

Venti had spoiled this child rotten to the bones. And so did Leida. All the chances she had to teach the young girl any manners were thrown away because she didn't want to hurt her and by extension hurt her loving mother. Leida's heart pained a little when she saw the daughter of the person she respected to become the figure in front of her. Giving one last sympathetic look, Leida then moved out of the room as well.

'I've failed you, Lord Venti.' Leida thought to herself.

Aberanis and Parash gave the same stare before walking out as well. Now, the only people in the room were Sylendri, the six generals and their vices. How are they going to plan the defence of the citadel? Nobody knows. Only that they end up in total defeat.

 

* * * * *

 

"What do you think about the Analyst, Leida?" Aberanis, the Second Army's general asked.

Leida took a few seconds of silence to think up an answer. "... I don't know," she replied, shrugging her shoulders in response.

"What do you mean you don't know? Just tell me what you think of her in the top of your mind," Aberanis said to her.

"Hmmmmmmm… What about you, Aberanis? What do you think of the Analyst?" Leida ruffled her hair trying to think of an answer before giving up and diverted the question back to her best friend.

Aberanis massaged his temples at his oldest friend's antics. "... I think she's just acting that way on purpose to get a reaction from us. The way she shamelessly does things and even openly calls others without honorifics and insulting them…  she's definitely not one to be trifled with."

"Aren't you giving her too much credit?" Parash, the Third General asked.

Aberanis shook his head at that question. "I don't think so. She has to be pretty strong and smart if even Kazakiel follows her orders. Besides, weren't you there? The way she just shrugs off Sylendri's attacks. I would like to see you try it."

"Well...her strength aside, I don't think she's anything special," Parash replied.

"That's what she wants you to think, my love. So normal people would underestimate her. Just from looking at her, I can tell you she's pretty observant as well. And there is the fact that she became general of the Seventh Army… replacing that Lionel… that's nothing to scoff at." Leida said.

"Big deal. General Lionel just so happens to fall and she took the chance to become general. I've seen many demons ascend the ranks this way."

"Do you honestly think that she became a general by luck? An Analyst? You either got to be ignorant or just plain stupid," Aberanis responded.

"What the hell did you just say to me, you runt? Also, I don't see what being an Analyst has to do with anything."

"I think you don't get it, my love. It's because she's an Analyst that her feat is incredible. To pick up the spear Indominatus and to have her entire army follow her willingly." Leida responded.

"Exactly, it only means that she earned the respect of her soldiers from scratch," Aberanis added.

"Truth be told, I'm actually a little bit jealous of her. She got the looks, the strength and the smarts. Even got guts as well. A perfect woman," Leida let out a sigh. "I can see why Cera would follow her. A good thing too. If there is a jerk who became her general, I'll beat them up and force her to transfer to my army!"

Samiyadare, the vice general of the First army let out a small sigh. "I must advise that you not do that, Big Sister." She chided Leida. "Also, we are here, the encampment of the Seventh Army.

Their entire convo stopped as they arrived at the place. Leida took this moment to observe the immediate area. She could see iron boxes lying around being dismantled for raw parts. At least a hundred Analysts were working on it. Afterwards, she could see a few Saboteurs and Cunnings running around. They were holding a suspicious leather package and were seen running in and out of the camp.

"Hmmm, the place looks a bit dirty, but it's sure is lively huh," Leida said out loud.

"That's because everyone is getting prepared for the upcoming mission," Cera's voice came from behind them. 

Leida and her friends turned around to see Cera and Kazakiel coming up to them. A short exchange of glances went between the two groups— especially the glances between Aberanis and Kazakiel. These two were known to have a bit of history between each other. 

The awkward silence was broken by none other than the eccentric Leida who immediately leapt to hug Cera.

"Kazakiel! Star! You guys look like you've grown quite a lot since the last I've met you! You especially Star," Leida un-hugs Cera before putting her hand on top of her head, comparing her own height with Cera. "Wow, you are almost as tall as me now!"

"I see you haven't changed at all," Kazakiel said with an uncomfortable smile on his face.

Cera, on the other hand, didn't respond to Leida at all— only looking at her with an expressionless face.

"Buuu, we haven't met for a few years and this is how you greet me?! Give me a smile, Star! You are pretty mean you know… all that time we were in the citadel and you never visited me. You know how happy I was when I finally got a letter from you? Turns out it was about this meeting. It was quite the bummer, to be honest…" Leida continued with a smile.

"Big sister was very happy to have received your letter, young Cera. I wish you could see her face." Samiyadare commented.

"Don't tell her that Samiyadare!" 

"..." Cera only kept quiet, this time with a sorrowful look on her face. She then looked down at the ground, feeling shameful as well.

Not even Leida could keep a happy face anymore. She averted her eyes and looked to the sides.  "Cera…" she mumbled.

Leida soon turned around and said to the others:
"Hey, guys. Can we two have some time alone? You guys can go to the meeting place first. I'll be there right after."

"...I'll lead the way then," Kazakiel replied before moving away from the place.

Deciding to respect her decision, the other generals and their vices left the area reluctantly. Now it was only Leida and Cera in the area— the two just staring at each other's feet.

After a few minutes of staring at each other, Leida finally spoke. "So… how are you doing?"

Cera raised her head and looked directly at Leida. "...I'm so sorry, Lord Leida. I tried my best… I really did. But I wasn't powerful enough…" Cera then went quiet again.

Leida took a moment to process what Cera said to her. She then looked at the Warrior with a smile on her face. "I'm not angry, Stardivacera. You don't have to be ashamed of yourself."

Cera turned her eyes away. "Yeah, I know…"

"..."

"..."

"Lord Lionel… made a promise to Lord Venti. Did you know that?" Cera asked.

Leida had a wide-open stare as she heard Cera brought the topic up. A promise is a big deal to an Ak'him. Once agreed to a contract, an Ak'him is soul-bound to execute it. But what was surprising to her wasn't the fact that Lionel made a promise, it was the fact that Lionel told someone else— a secret that he guarded so heavily. Only Leida knew about it and that's not even from Lionel telling her. 

'Something big must have happened for that Lionel to expose his deepest darkest secret.' Leida thought to herself.

"Yeah, I knew about it… Deep inside my mind, I knew he was going to die because of that stupid promise. Although, I didn't want to believe it. I just thought he would win all the way."

"Lord Leida…"

"...Hey Stardivacera. Do you want to like… join my army instead? If it hurts you so much I could—"

Leida's words were cut off from a quick and decisive response from Cera. "I cannot. I got frien—family here that I need to protect. I cannot simply abandon them. I have to respectfully decline."

"Yeah… I thought so. You know, I'm quite surprised you are taking this really well Stardivacera. I thought you would be much more emotional than this." 

The Cera that Leida knew would have drowned herself in self-loath at this point, being lost and confused as well. The one in front of her, while sad, was much calmer and composed. As if she had matured and became a better person.

"Well… it has been quite a while since it happened. And I'm not quite alone in the matter. The whole army lost their father. I needed to be strong for their sake. I need to be that sister that glues everyone together."

Cera then suddenly let out a chuckle. "Or so I thought I would be. There is already another person already doing that. So I'm just here doing my best to support her."

Leida let out another soft smile. "You've grown, Star. You changed so much these last few years. I mean you gotta stop before you change to the point where I could barely recognize you!"

"And you haven't changed at all Lord Leida. Always a joker."

"Ahh! But can a joker do this?!" She yelled before pulling Cera for another big hug. Although it became quickly evident that she wasn't letting go anytime soon.

"Please stop, Lord Leida. I'm no longer a kid. This is rather embarrassing…"

"Oh shush. You'll always be a kid in my eyes. Just let me have this one."

"Goodness sake…" Cera said as she let Leida continue to embrace her, a soft calm smile on her face.

They kept up in that position for almost half an hour before Cera pushed her away in order to drag Leida to the meeting. Leida and Klauna were similar in that they need someone strict to monitor them, otherwise they will never get things done.